SANTA ROSA FILM FESTIVAL - Santa Rosa International Film Festival

Summerfield Cinemas 3, 8:35 pm
DIR:
Sander
Francken
PROD:
Karin S. de
Boer
ED: Gys
Zevenbergen
MUS: Adi
Bhasin,
Afel
Bocoum,
Sakar
Khan,
Rainer
Michel,
Morup
Namgyal
CAST:
Abba
Bilancoro,
Kolado
Bocoum,
Dhamender
Singhi
94
Minutes,
2010,
Netherlands
ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept.
18, 6:15 pm
Deerfield Ranch Cave
Bardsongs
World Cinema
Mon., Sept. 19 Tuesday, September 20 Tuesday, September 20
Filmed in India and Mali, Bardsongs, using
three folk tales from Rajasthan, West Africa
and Ladakh respectively, this film demonstrates
that wisdom is universal, regardless
of what an individual person’s beliefs are.
Part One tells the story of Sahir, whose father
never jumps to conclusions, no matter
how much he is tempted. The second story
is that of Bouba, a student of the Koran
who embarks on a six-day quest in and
around the city of Djenné in search of the
greatest part of all knowledge. The third
tale concerns Sonam, his travels with his
daughter through the Himalaya to a village
to sell a dzo (a crossbreed between a yak
and a cow), and the advice he receives from
people he meets along the way.
“When it comes down to it we all seem to
think alike about the essence of our existence,
whether you are a Hindu or a Christian,
Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish or anarchist,
atheist or animist,” muses Francken. “The
understanding that the old wisdom of any
given people is of universal importance,
was a great starting point for me, especially
in an age in which we more and more are at
each other’s throats on account of cultural
differences. ”
Indeed, this beautiful, deep and poetic film,
brimming with astute observations on human
nature, seeks to bridge these gaps.
-James Conrad
Summerfield Cinemas 2, 2:30 pm
DIR:
Charles
Bosch
PROD:
Oriol
Ivern, Tono
Folguera,
Toni Marin,
Joan
Salvat,
Muntsa
Tarres,
Andres
Luque,
Pere
Gibert
ED: Ernest
Blasi, Carlos
Prieto
MUS:
Josep
Sanou
FEATUR-
ING:
Pasqual
Maragall
107
Minutes,
2010,
Spain
Bicycle, Spoon, Apple
Cinema of Conscience
This film is a moving, comical and optimistic
documentary directed by investigative TV
journalist Charles Bosch. It takes its name
from a test used to diagnose Alzheimer’s.
The film brings the story of Pasqual Maragall,
the immensely popular former mayor
of Barcelona and later President of Catalonia
to life as Bosch follows the progress of
Maragall’s illness over two years.
As the disease causes him to slowly fade,
his good humor and sense of irony remain
largely intact as he celebrates President
Barack Obama’s 2008 election by bringing
a life-size cutout back from New York and
promoting the Pasqual Maragall Foundation
for Alzheimer’s Research.
Throughout the film, doctors from India and
the United States briefly interject to discuss
new drugs and other innovative forms of
treatment to combat the growing number
of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide—currently
at twenty-four million and counting.
Lauded by Variety Magazine for “cleverly
balancing the personal with the medical,”
the film gives a powerful and lucid insight
into the fight against Alzheimer’s and
demonstrates who the real heroes are.
-James Conrad
Summerfield Cinemas 2, 4:30 pm
DIR: Alysa
Nahmias
& Ben
Murray
PROD:
Benjamin
Murray,
Alysa
Nahmias
ED: Alex
Minnick,
Kristen
Nutile
FEATUR-
ING:
Vittorio
Garatti,
Roberto
Gottardi,
Ricardo
Porro
86
Minutes,
2011,
USA
Unfinished Spaces
Arts in Film
In 1961, shortly after the revolution, Fidel
Castro embarked on turning a country club
outside of Havana into, “...the most beautiful
academy of art in the world.” We learn
what went wrong in this documentary.
Three visionary architects were commissioned
and given freedom to create. Roberto
Gottardi, Ricardo Porro and Vittorio
Garatti (all in the film) produced a surreal
plan; a complex of buildings, some with
subterranean paths, some resembling gigantic
domed breasts, one with a fountain
resembling a vagina.
Because of the U.S. embargo on steel and
other materials, the compound was constructed
mostly using native terra cotta
and the Catalonian arch. The structures
were organic, undulating, breathtaking
and represented more than just brick and
mortar. They embodied the freedom, and
exuberance of the new order. Before they
were completed however, Soviet ideology
forced a wedge between artistic freedom
and functionality. The National Art Schools
fell into disrepair, overgrown and neglected…
nonetheless they continued as viable
schools for all the arts which launched Cuban
arts into world renown.
Unfinished Spaces is a mixture of many
things, art, architecture, revolution and
the spirit of a nation. The fate of the
buildings even today, make for a dynamic
real-life drama that offers surprises.
-Diane McCurdy
60 61
ALSO PLAYING: Monday, Sept. 19, 6:15 pm
Deerfield Ranch Cave
Summerfield Cinemas 3, 6:30 pm
DIR: Jean
Becker
PROD:
Louis
Becker,
Gérard
Depardieu
ED:
Jacques
Witta
MUS:
Laurent
Voulzy
CAST:
Gérard
Depardieu,
Gisèle
Casadesus
88
Minutes,
2010,
France
ALSO PLAYING: Wednesday, Sept. 13, 8 pm
Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco
My Afternoons with
Margueritte
Using a dictionary is like
traveling —from one word to the
next.
Arts in Film
“Using a dictionary is like traveling—from
one word to the next. You lose yourself as
if in a labyrinth. You stop and you dream.”
- Margueritte
In a small town tucked away in rural Charente,
France a chance meeting between
handyman Germain (Gerard Depardieu)
and the sharply intelligent 95-year-old Margueritte
(Gisèle Casadesus) leads to a tender
friendship. She introduces him to reading
starting with philosopher Albert Camus.
As her influence transforms his life and the
lives of those around him, roles reverse
when her sight begins to fails. .
Winter Frog
DIR: Slony Sow
18 Minutes, 2011, France
Benjamin, winemaker, sees his wife die in
his arms following a long illness. Only one
way for him: death. But a young Japanese
woman, coming specially to taste his wine,
will gently bring him to mourn the death
of his wife by a series of symbols and exchanges
between two cultures.